Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding

With all the mentions the book Retribution Falls, first in the Tales of the Ketty Jay series, has been having over the last year or so, I was surprised to not be able to find a thread particularly dedicated to this book/series (other than some discussion in a general thread about the author).

Anyways, I received the other day the paperback version which was released this April, read it and really enjoyed it. I see the comparisons that have been made to Firefly, and it really does give the same type of vibe. Really liked it.

My favorite character was probably Jez. She seemed the most interesting to me, with her struggle to maintain what she is, accept what she is, and longing for a group of people that might just accept her... a place to belong. Plus, she kicked ass.

I would like to see the crew interacting more with the outside world, I think the best moments are when Frey was arguing with the whispermonger, the knights, and the ex. Also, when Cracke and Jez went to the party it was nice.

And as it has been mentioned a lot already, the cover art is beautiful.

Also, my paperback came with a Captain's Log at the end, did the other versions you guys might have read have that? I thought it was a very nice touch and gives better insight into Frey.

The sequel, Black Lung Captain, is coming out in July 29, who's got that on their ASAP to read list? I sure am reading it as soon as I get my hands on it. It has a nice cover too, Werthead posted it in another thread. My Retribution Falls paperback has a preview for it at the end, will check it out tonight or something.

Anyways, Retribution Falls was a very fun book and I'm highly anticipating the rest of the journey with this crew. Oh, and Bess is awesome too.

Definitely looking forward to BLC, as I loved the characters in Retribution. So far that was my favorite book from Chris after reading the braided path trilogy, not that there was anything wrong with that series. Its just that Retribution is more my cup of tea.

RF was my first book by Wooding and since then I have had the pleasure of reading a few other books by him. Always impressed with his worlds and characters.

I also hope that he can keep up the pace and quality that RF left us with. Great series and I took advantage of the 50% off at BD and pre-ordered it. July looks to be a quiet month so I hope to receive it and burn through it in a day or two, just like the first book.

The crew of the Ketty Jay are down on their luck. A year after the events at Retribution Falls, Darian Frey is reduced to robbing an orphanage to keep his craft in the air. And when he can't even pull that off, it's clear that the crew need a lucky break. Enter Captain Grist of the Storm Dog and an offer that is too good to refuse: a mission to a hostile island to retrieve valuable artifacts from a civilisation dating back to before the dawn of time. The money is good, the opportunity for fame and glory huge. What can go wrong?

Obviously, the answer is a lot. The Black Lung Captain is the second volume in the Tales of the Ketty Jay series, following on from last year's excellent, Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated Retribution Falls. Readers of that book will feel immediately at home here, as Wooding continues his Firefly-meets-steampunk story of a clapped out aircraft and its crew struggling to make ends meet in a hostile world of shady deals and, at the fringes of civilisation, hostile savages.

The Tales of the Ketty Jay series promises to be somewhat episodic, with this book seeing the crew of the Ketty Jay embarking on another adventure. However, character arcs and storylines are continued from the first book. Pleasingly, these aren't separated from the plot and in some cases are vital for the resolution of the story. Those who were left wondering about Jez's unusual heritage and abilities from the first book and the dark secrets of the tormented daemonologist Crake will find these stories continuing to unfold in this novel. In fact, there's enough references to the previous novel and the backstories of the main characters that it would be difficult to recommend readers to start with this novel. There is a particularly satisfying evolution of the character of Trinica Dracken and the recurring supporting characters of the Century Knights (who are interesting and strong enough characters to possibly warrant their own spin-off novel or series at some point in the future).

On the minus side, The Black Lung Captain does not feel as immediately fresh and vibrant as the first novel. The callbacks to the first novel are part of this, but more notable is the fact that, just as with Retribution Falls and indeed Firefly and many of the pulp books and adventures which inspired this series, there's a slight sense of predictability to events. The number of times our heroes are double-crossed, held at gunpoint, swap sides and so on is quite high, to the point where, by simply assuming that the worst possible thing will happen at every story turn, you can almost predict what will happen next, at least until the major twists in the plot start happening towards the end of the novel.

These are minor issues, however. The Black Lung Captain, like its forebear, is page-turning entertainment from start to finish, packed with aerial battles, chases, intrigue and hints of much bigger stories to come.

The Black Lung Captain (****½) will be published in the UK on 29 July. A US edition is in the works for next year, but the UK edition will be available on import much sooner.

My friend, who is an independent filmmaker, is looking for airship-based fantasy novels to option and adapt, and as his creative assistant, I have been tasked to read the Tales of the Ketty Jay, so I'm really looking forward to this series...

Actually, recently we spent a couple days batting around ideas for an original airship-based fantasy script concept, and when we were done, we said "OK, now has anyone already written a book like this?" and we found that Retribution Falls was extremely close to the story we had imagined...

I loved the first book; it was a fun, swashbuckling read with great characters. The only problem was that I had slight difficulties getting the book through the library system here and I am guessing it might take me a while to get Black Lung Captain after it comes out.